Creative Nonfiction Writing

Creative Nonfiction is a new name for an old game–belles letters, literary nonfiction, New Journalism, and the 4th genre are all just alternate nomenclature for this growing body of writing which positions itself in the grey world between fiction and nonfiction, refusing to accept the determined label of either. The beginning of all creative nonfiction is writers who have been given permission to allow their experiences in the world to creatively shape their writing, allowing personality and flavor to come back into the often dry world of nonfiction. As a result of the relatively recent emphasis on creative nonfiction (as its own genre), new angles of perception have arisen in the role of the voice, the use of research, the value of story, the need for point of view, and range of form and language possibilities. Naturally an emphasis in this course will be placed on memoir, personal essay, travel writing, literary journalism, nature writing, history writing, autobiography writing and more.